Author

Graduation Year

Document Type

Degree

Degree Granting Department

Major Professor

Co-Major Professor

Moya Alfonso, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Elizabeth Pathak, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Graham Tobin, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Wayne Westhoff, Ph.D.

Keywords

Disaster, Planning, Hurricanes, Chi-Square, CHAID

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the predictors of evacuation intention among coastal residents in the State of Florida and to determine if there are meaningful segments of the population who intend to evacuate when told to do so by governmental officials because of a major hurricane. In the America’s and the Caribbean, 75,000 deaths have been attributed to hurricanes in the 20 th century. A well planned evacuation can reduce injury and death, yet many people do not have an evacuation plan and do not intend to evacuate when told to do so. The study used secondary data from the Harvard School of Public Health, Hurricane in High Risk Areas study, a random sample of 5,046 non-institutionalized persons age 18 and older in coastal counties of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. Surveys for the State of Florida were segregated and used in this analysis, resulting in a study sample of 1,006 surveys from 42 counties. When asked if they would evacuate in the future if told to by government officials, 59.1% of Floridians surveyed said they would leave, 35.2% said they would not leave and 5.6% said it would depend. In Florida, 65.7% of the population had been threatened or hit by a major hurricane in the last three years and 26.6% of those had left their homes because of the hurricane. Of those whose

population most likely and least likely to evacuate when told to do so. Those most likely to evacuate had evacuated due to a previous hurricane. Those least likely to evacuate when told to do so had not evacuated in a previous storm, do not own a generator and are over the age of 65. Information from this study can be used in planning for evacuation response by governmental entities. Available demographic information can be used to determine numbers of persons likely to evacuate before a storm. The results of this study can be used to inform a marketing strategy by government officials to encourage evacuation among those who say they would not evacuate when told to do so. Further research is needed to determine additional characteristics of the populations who say they will and will not evacuate when told to do so.